Locals credited with pressing for May River rescue

COLUMBIA -- When the May River’s shellfish harvesting status suffered a downgrade because of fecal coliform, people were stunned.

“People were upset, and rightfully so,” said Kimberly Jones, an ecologist for the town of Bluffton.

The classification downgrade struck in 2009. But two years earlier, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control had warned that fecal coliform levels were rising in the river’s headwaters, signaling that the watershed was in faltering health.

Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agency designated the May River a threatened watershed.

So Bluffton residents -- at times, holding jars of murky water -- put the heat on town leaders.

“We’ve had folks who often show up at town council meetings and say, ‘I am the fifth generation of my family that’s learned to swim in the May River, and I’m concerned I am the last generation,'” Jones said during a presentation Thursday at the S.C. Water Resources Conference.

“Thank God for the stakeholders,” said Jones. “Yes, they might be a thorn in my side at times (but) they put the political pressure on our council to say, ‘You said you were going to fix this, you were going to prevent this.’”

Last November local leaders took a big step. Bluffton Town Council adopted a watershed-based strategy for restoring shellfish harvesting on the river, preventing future pollution, and finding land purchase opportunities, such as conservation easements.

Trouble for the May River stems from the town’s explosive growth.

Bluffton was one square mile until 1987, when the first annexation occurred. Critics have called the boundary stretching that followed reckless.

Today the town stretches 54 square miles, thanks to years of expanding into neighboring land. The town’s population boomed 900 percent from 2000-2010, bringing with it changes in the way the land was being used, expanses of pavement and development, and sources of fecal coliform, such as pet excrement.

River watchers may take some comfort: The May River is barred from receiving wastewater discharge. On Thursday, Jones pointed to other victories: The town has received grants to help with protection efforts. And in the last three weeks developer Crescent Resources agreed to transfer development rights for 1,300 residential units out of May River headwaters and into a less sensitive area.

Jones said regulations didn’t require the town to undertake the work she had detailed.

“But we have a very concerned and informed population of citizens,” she said. “If they didn’t care, quite honestly, I wouldn’t be here.”